Dell PC Restore by Symantec

I let an employee use this laptop and it appears that this idiot wiped out c:\ drive and installed XP Pro. I need Windows Vista reinstalled. I still have drive d:/ with the original as shipped image. The only problem I have is that I don't have the Dell PC Restore by Symantec installed on drive c:/ any more. Is there a place to download this from your site and install it so I can run the restore to drive c:/?????

The WAIK (Windows Automated Installation Kit) is not always needed to get imagex to work. We listed it in an earlier post because some systems do not have imagex.exe in their recovery partitions. Dell includes it in the Recovery partition's Tools subdirectory. The best way to manually restore your system to it's as-shipped factory configuration would be to boot the system from a Vista DVD (32-bit or 64-bit depending upon which is installed on your system), go to the command prompt, navigate to the Tools directory of the recovery partition, and type the following command:

imagex /apply d:\dell\image\factory.wim 1 c:\

If you do not have a Vista DVD, you can download a Vista (32- or 64-bit) Recovery DVD ISO from here: http://neosmart.net/blog/2008/windows-vista-recovery-disc-download/ Windows 7 (32- or 64-bit) Recovery DVD ISOs are also available on this site. Please note that these DVDs only give you the "recovery center" options of a Vista or Windows 7 DVD such as System Repair, System Restore and command prompts.

This is the site that Microsoft techs recommend for Vista Recovery DVD ISOs. Downloading them and creating bootable DVDs with an ISO burner such as Nero or Roxio is a lot simpler than using the WAIK to create such disks.

I have read all the posts in this thread, but have a problem with the Dell recovery partion it is not mounted or active. It does show up in Disk Management as a partion with no drive letter and the same for Dell Media partion and a OEM partion so there are 4 all together.

When I use Windows Explorer only the C shows. I remember that it used to show before I install Win 7 32 bit, which after many trys with different drivers from other Dell Laptops running Win 7 32 bits, just could not get this Dell 1720 to work 100%.

At the moment I am using the OEM Vista 32 bit Disk to reinstall OS back onto partion 3 which had Win 7 32bit, something must be wrong it's taking forever to do the last step (Completing installation). I hope I didn't fry something or change a device's setting to the point where Vista does not recognize the computer.

You are correct. Dell's original OS DVD is basically a pre-activated Microsoft OS DVD. Therefore, it does not have the RAID controller drivers slipstreamed. Those drivers are included in the Factory Restore partition. When installing from the DVD, you either have to have the Matrix drivers on CD or USB or you have to change the BIOS Setup hard drive controller from RAID to AHCI, install Windows, install the Matrix drivers and then change the BIOS Setup back to RAID. That is not necessary when installing from the Factory Restore partition.

Depending on what year the PC is, Dell give up Symantec a while back.
But you should have the OEM image of the OS on the hard drive.
There is a procedure at start up before Windows loads using the F8 key and select the options for repair, there you should see restore Factory Image.
Unless someone formatted the Hard Drive.